Auction-bridge-score indicator



Sept. 29, 1925.

J. M. CURRIN AUCTION BRIDGE SCORE INDICATOR Filed April l, 1922 f1 No1 new Patented Sept'. 29, 1925.

TED STATES JAMES M. CUR/RIN, 0F RICHMGND, VIRGINIA.

AUCTION-BRIDGE-SCORE INDICATOR.

Application filed. April 15, 1922. Serial No. 552,91@

To @ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it'known that l, JAMns lVl. CURRIN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Richmond, in the county ot Henrico and State of Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Auction- Bridge-Score Indicators; and l do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

This invention relates to score indicators for computing and recording scores made in playing auction bridge. v

As is understood, in auction bridge, any one ot the tour suits may be the trump or no trumps and there are seven Y"diffe/rent values for tricks during each hand, depending upon the number of tricks taken. The values of the tricks also Avary according to the trump on which the bid is secured, making a total of thirty-five different scores for tricks taken during a hand. There are also eight diierent values for the honors, or eight different combinations of honor cards, in each suit as well as several combinations ot honors that may be held when the bid is on no trumps. Thus, it will be seen, that ones memory can not be relied upon to ascertain the scores made but that the scoring of the various points made by the players on each hand is more or less complicated and milch time is apt to be consumed in calculating the scores. This is especially true in cases of persons not entirely familiar with the game and it is the primary object of the present invention to devise a score indicator that will permit any one to quickly, easily and accurately determine the value Y tricks taken and honorsheld bytheV players.

A further object is to provide the indicator with a scoring sheet so located with re spect to the places where the scores are in- 'dicated as to prevent any confusion in the entering up of the scores.

In the accompanying drawing- Figure 1 is a top plan view of the indicator constructed according to the present invention; i

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the card carrying the various indications of the values of the one of the players may securethe bid onr tricks and honors and the indications 0I" the suits or trumps;

Fig. 3 is a sectional View on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings, theiscore indicator comprises a casing having a plurality ot' display openings 10, 11 and 12 in its top 13 and slidably mounted within the casing is a card 14 having all the necessary data thereon for indicating, at the several display openings in the casing, the various points scored. The operation of the indicator is very simple, a single operation or movement of card 14 relatively to the openings in casing-top 13 being the only step necessary to indicate in one opening 11 the trump, in a second opening 10 the points to be scored for tricks taken and in a third opening 12 the score made for honors held. To obtain this simplicity of manipulation the display openings 10,*1f1rand f12*in"casingtop 13 are preferably arranged in alinement vertically of the casing, the lower opening 10 being for the trick values, the middle opening 1l for the trump indications and the upper opening 12 for the honor values. Printed, or otherwise marked, on the casing opposite the opening 10 are thenumerals 1 to 7, arranged lengthwise of the opening, these numerals indicating the odd tricks that may be taken each hand, and similarly arranged 01:1- the casing, opposite opening 12, are the various combinations of honors to which scoring values are attached. As will be understood, opening 10 is of suticientlength to expose seven-value indications for the seven odd tricks and opening 12 is made lon enough to display the values of the six com inations ofl honor cards together with the honor scores allowed for little slams and grand slams. Y Y

The indications of the several trumps, i. e., clubs, diamonds, hearts, s ades and no are arranged on t e top face of card 14 in alinement with each other and opening 11, as indicated at 15, the row of trump indications extending at right angles to the alined openings in the casin top. Above the trump indications 15 and a apted to register with opening 12, is a table 16 of the various values of the different combinations of honors, and below said trump indications is a table 17 of the values of the tricks. The values of the honors and tricks vary, depending upon what the trump is for each hand, clubs being of the lowest value, diamonds next, hearts next, spades next, and no trumps being the highest. To allowy for these differences in values and to simplify the operation of the indicator. the

vAll the trick and honor .vided with a scoring Values of the honors and tricks of each suit are arranged on card 111 in alinement with the respective trumps, that is, the values of the honors and tricks when clubs are trumps are in a straight line with the club indication, those Jfor diamonds in a straight line with the diamond indication, and so on with those for the hearts, spades and no trumps. These rows of trick and honorlvalue indications and trump indications extend parallel to the openings 10, 11 and 12, in order that all the honor Vand trick values ot any one trump Will be exposed through openings 10 and 12, when that particular' trump indication is exposed in opening 11.

With the trump indications 15, honor value indications 16 and trick valueindica tions 17 arranged relatively to each other in this manner and relatively to the openings 10, 11 and 12, the scores made during a hand may be determined by a single movement ot' card la within the casing, as it is only neces sary to slide the card transversely of the casing until the trump indication of the trum for the hand is exposed in opening 11. value indications for that trump will then be exposedin the openings 10 and 127 the values of the seven odd tricks appearing in alinement with the seven numerals on the casing and the values of the honors appearing opposite the honor combinations on the casing alongside of opening 12.

This particular arrangement of the displayopenings and the several sets of indications 15, 16 and 17 on card 14 is of particu lar importance in connection with the provision of a-scoring pad on the casing. As is well understood, the points for honors are scored above the line, as it is expressed, and the points lfor tricks are scored below the line. The scoring pad 18 is, therefore, secured to the casing top 13 by suitable means, such as a spring cllp 19, and is prov space 20 opposite opening 12 for scoring honors and another scoring space 21 opposite opening 10 for scoring points made on tricks. With this arrangement of the display openings 10 and 12 and the scoring spaces on pad 20, it is an easy matterfor the score keeper to irst ascertain the scores on the scoring tables and then write down those scores in the spaces. immediately opposite the openings. All confusion is eliminated and Very little time is consumed.

The construction of the casing vand the means for slidably securing the card therein may,V of course, be varied, but in the pre ferred construction the casino' consists essentially of the to 13 and abase 22 made of sheet metal. T 'e sides 23 of the casing are formed by bending the edge portions of the base and top, the top being made sliofhtly larger than the base, whereby-the ange formed around the edge of the base may telescope in that formed on the top.

An elongated slot 2li, extending parallel to the trump indications 15 on the card is formed in casing top 13 and a pin 25 on saiducard projects upwardly through the slot. -By grasping pin 25 the card may be slid back and forth in the casing to bring any one of the live trump indications into -registry with opening 11, the movement ol the card being limited by the engagement of the pin with the ends of the slot. To prevent any movement of the card transversely of slot 24, a slot26 extending parallel to slot 211, is formed in the card and a pin 27 mounted on the base 22 of the casing projects upwardly through said slot 26.

The card is prevented Jfrom sliding loosely back and forth in the casing by a spring 28 mounted on either the card or the interior of the casing, but preferably on the card as shown, the rictional engagement between the spring and the casing being suficiently light to allow the card to be easily shifted to the various desired positions in the casing.

As the essential feature of the present inventi'on is in 'arranging the several sets ot indications with respect Vto the display openings so that all possible scores for one hand will be indicated by a single movement ot' the card 14, it will be apparent that the arrangement above described as the one preferred may be varied without departing from the spiritl of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In an auction bridge score indicator, a casing having a series of three display openings therein, a slidably mounted card within the casing, a series of trum-piindi'cations, a

series of trick value indications and'"zrsericsWAV of honor value indications each arranged on said card relatively to the openings whereby a movement of the card in the casing to display a trump indication in one of the openings in the casing will simultaneously display all the trick value indications of said trump in the second opening and all of the honor value indications of said trump in the other opening in the casing.

2. In an auction bridge score indicator, a casing having a series of display openings therein, a movably mounted card within the casing, a series of trump indications, a series of trick value indications and a series of honor value indications, each arranged on said cardrelatively to the openings whereby a movement of the card in the casing to display a trump indication in one of the openings in the casing will simultaneously display all of the trick value indications of said trum in the second opening, and all of the honor value indications of said trump in the other openn in the casin gAMES M. URRIN. 

